Flat-clawed hermit crab

Taxobox
name = Flat-clawed hermit crab
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Crustacea
classis = Malacostraca
ordo = Decapoda
infraordo = Anomura
superfamilia = Paguroidea
familia = Paguridae
genus = "Pagurus"
species = "P. pollicaris"
binomial = "Pagurus pollicaris"
binomial_authority = Say, 1817

The flat-clawed hermit crab, "Pagurus pollicaris", is a hermit crab commonly found along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. It inhabits discarded snail shells, to which hermit crab anemones sometimes attach. It occurs on all types of substrate, and is often found on mud flats at low tide. The adult flat-clawed hermit crab is typically 1¼ inches (32 mm) long, one inch (25 mm) wide, oblong, whitish or pale tan gray, with brown eye-stalks.

The diet of the flat-clawed hermit crab comprises organic matter, algae, and sometimes other hermit crabs. Fish are the most important predators of this species.

The flat-clawed hermit crab is also known as the broad-clawed and thumb-clawed hermit crab.